


the art of keeping up (a pocket full of deadlines)

by deerie



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Kaiju, Coffee Shops, F/M, Families of Choice, M/M, Unconventional Families
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-28
Updated: 2013-12-28
Packaged: 2018-01-06 10:09:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deerie/pseuds/deerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pentecost seems pleased when he says, "I need you to retrieve Doctors Geiszler and Gottlieb and make sure they show up for the staff meeting in my office at five."</p><p>"Sounds easy enough," Raleigh says.</p><p>Pentecost straight up laughs in his face. "Good luck," is all he offers Raleigh.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the art of keeping up (a pocket full of deadlines)

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is for my darling [Emma](http://pepperonistark.tumblr.com), who requested "omg PACIFIC RIM FANFIC. omg. Raleigh/Mako, like, idek, whatever. something xmasy? some au where pentecost is alive, obvi. maybe a college au where pentecost is their faculty adviser?" when I asked for prompts. :) 
> 
> So obviously I turned this into something vaguely set around winter finals! I am so good at this prompt thing, ha. I figure there will probably be about two more parts to this little ol' thing, so I hope you enjoy the ride!
> 
> The title comes from two different Fall Out Boy songs - _Art of Keeping Up Disappearances_ and _Lake Effect Kid_. I am nothing if not predictable.

Stacker Pentecost stares down at Raleigh's slumped form. He frowns. Raleigh looks pathetic. "The semester is coming to an end. Would you rather fail the class or pass?"

"How did you even find me," Raleigh says without reflection. A pencil digs into his cheek and his forehead rests on the keyboard of his laptop, creating a long line of z's where his essay should be.

"Mr. Becket, you're in the library. It wasn't exactly a hardship to track you down." He pauses to roll his eyes because he knows Raleigh isn't looking at him. "Ms. Mori told me where you were. She's worried about you and somehow it falls on me to make sure you're okay. Although I don't know why, I'm your academic adviser, not your life coach."

Raleigh groans and rolls his head off of the keyboard to thunk against the table. He bats his hand against his face to dislodge the pencil. It falls off the table.

"I'm going to give you a piece of advice and you're going to take it: take a break. Go meet Mako at the Shatterdome. Get out of this library before I call security and have you escorted off the premises."

Raleigh debates ignoring Pentecost. But he's pretty sure Pentecost isn't kidding about calling the campus cops - they're dicks on a good day - so he starts sticking his papers haphazardly into his binder. When he finishes loading everything into his backpack, he shoulders his bag and motions at Pentecost with his elbow.

Pentecost leads him away from his table. Raleigh's going to miss this spot. The table's definitely not going to be free when he comes back. It's a tragedy, honestly.

They make it to the stairs when Pentecost finally says, "I need you to do something for me."

Raleigh winces. He doesn't have time to run an errand, especially if Pentecost is serious about enforcing this break. He doesn't have much of a choice, though. Pentecost is both his adviser and a hard ass. He could make life very difficult for Raleigh if he felt like it.

So, despite what Raleigh really wants, he nods.

Pentecost seems pleased when he says, "I need you to retrieve Doctors Geiszler and Gottlieb and make sure they show up for the staff meeting in my office at five."

"Sounds easy enough," Raleigh says.

Pentecost straight up laughs in his face. "Good luck," is all he offers Raleigh.

 

"Please," Raleigh says when he enters the Shatterdome. "Never sic your father on me again."

Mako flicks her eyes up from her engineering textbook and quirks a small smile. "Drastic times, Raleigh."

She turns a page and says, "I bought a drink for you already."

He drops his bag by the table and heads up to the front counter of the coffee shop. Tendo greets him. "Hey, brother. Mako forbade me from making you a coffee," he gestures down to a cup already sitting on the counter. "Your lady's scary."

Raleigh stares down at the cup mournfully. "This definitely qualifies as cruel and unusual."

"It's cocoa," Tendo clarifies. "It's delicious and Chuck had nothing to do with it."

Raleigh glances over to Chuck's usual table. Chuck smirks at him. "What are you even doing?" Raleigh asks. "Do you just lurk around waiting for me to show up so you can be a little creep? Really?"

"For your information, _Rah_ -leigh, I'm on break." He jauntily gestures to a muffin on the table in front of him.

"Well, thank God for small favors," Raleigh snipes back. 

"Whoa, boys. Don't scare away my customers. Raleigh, take your cocoa and go-go."

Raleigh shoves a fiver in the tip jar and says, "That's for _you_ , not Chuck."

Tendo preemptively tosses a washrag at Chuck before he can say anything snarky as Raleigh walks back to Mako's table. He sits down and takes the lid off his cocoa. Steam curls up off the top and waits for it to cool down before he takes a sip.

"Your dad told me I have to make sure some professors named Geiszler and Gottlieb make it to a staff meeting."

Mako flicks her eyes up curiously at Raleigh. "He wants you to get Newt and Hermann? I'll come with you."

"You know them?" Raleigh asks.

Mako grins. "Newt's my favorite uncle. He helps dye my hair when Sasha's busy."

Tendo calls up indignantly from behind the pastry shelves, "I thought I was your favorite uncle, Mako!"

Mako turns another page and sends Tendo a coy look from under her fringe. "Well, maybe he's my second favorite uncle."

A smug look crosses Tendo's face and he says, "Don't let Newt hear you say that."

Mako looks back at Raleigh and says, "Drink your cocoa. We'll go have a quickie in your dorm room and then I'll take you to Newt and Hermann's lab."

Raleigh blinks. He nods and smiles, "Sounds like a plan."

 

Mako fills Raleigh in on Geiszler and Gottlieb on the way to the Science building. What Raleigh gathers from her explanation is that they're ridiculously codependent, to the point where they share a lab even though they don't even teach the same subject. They've known each other for years and Mako considers both of them to be family, even though there's no blood relation. 

Of course, he hears them before he ever sees them for the first time.

They yell loudly and in German. Raleigh's pretty sure that he hears one of them call the other an 'enormous troglodyte.'

"That's Dr. Gottlieb," Mako supplies helpfully. "Don't call him Hermann and don't offend him."

"I'm not sure I want to do this now," Raleigh says in response.

"Don't be a big baby," Mako says as she pushes the doors to the lab open. "Newt!"

The shorter one pauses mid-yell and turns toward Mako with a big grin on his face. "Mako! To what do we owe the pleasure? Hermann, come be a person, these are people."

Newt grabs a cane that sits on a table and hands it over to Hermann. Hermann grimaces but accepts it with a nod and moves closer to the center of the room. "Hello, Ms. Mori. Who is your friend and why have you brought him here?"

Newt smacks him lightly on the chest with the back of his hand.

Hermann sniffs and says, "Rude."

"Be nice," Newt says pointedly. "We have guests."

Hermann harrumphs. "Well, he's obviously not a Mathematics students. Is he one of yours, Newton?"

"Nah, Herms. He doesn't even look the least bit science-y." Newt looks Raleigh up and down. "What's your major?"

Raleigh says, "Linguistics."

He waits for the usual responses - the weird looks, the questions of what he's going to do with his major after he graduates. He doesn't get either of those things. 

Newt suddenly flushes bright red and Hermann says, "You don't happen to speak German, do you?"

"Ah," Raleigh says. "A little bit, yeah. Not enough to understand your entire, uh, argument."

To Mako, Newt says, "Well, that's a relief. What's your friend's name?"

Mako clasps her hand with Raleigh's and says, "This is my boyfriend, Raleigh Becket."

Raleigh waves weakly. 

Newt pushes his glasses up his nose, frowns, and says, "Boyfriend, huh?"

"Becket, did you say?" Hermann asks, a sharp twist to his gaze. At Raleigh's nod, he says, "I knew your brother. He was a great pilot. Right, well. What can we do for you, Mr. Becket?"

Raleigh's throat tightens up unexpectedly. He hadn't expected either of these people to know Yancy. He dips his head in acknowledgement before clearing his throat. "Pentecost sent me to remind you that you've got a staff meeting at five in his office."

"Oh," Hermann says, clasping his hands on top of his cane. His mouth pinches downward and he looks back at Newt. "No, I don't believe we have time for that."

Raleigh stares at him incredulously.

Newt steps between them. “He’s right, you know. We’re so close to making this huge breakthrough and we can’t possibly even think about leaving the lab right now.”

Mako shoots an alarmed look at Raleigh. Raleigh blurts, “Are you kidding me?”

“In fact!” Newt shouts. “We really shouldn’t be taking visitors right now, so I guess you should have left, like, yesterday, bye!”

“It was really lovely to see you, Ms. Mori, but if you’ll excuse us,” Hermann says, effectively cutting off any further conversation.

When they get pushed out of the lab, Mako looks just as confused as Raleigh feels. Newt peeks out of the small square window in the lab door and then flips the lock. 

Raleigh asks, “Are they for real?”

Mako stares at him with wide eyes. “This is a little weird,” she says, “even for them.”


End file.
